today we're looking at the red scare of the 1920s
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you'll find more resources that go with many of the bellringer videos the red scare refers to a
period in american history in which there was a great fear of communist and anarchist influences
within american society communism is a political theory developed in the mid-1800s by karl marx
communism promotes class warfare that would lead to a society in which all
property is publicly owned or in other words owned by the government and resources would be
equally distributed to citizens much of this fear was fed by the recent bolshevik revolution that
had taken place in russia in 1917. vladimir lenin led the revolution which eliminated
the russian royal family and replaced them with the communist party americans began to refer to
anyone with communist sympathies as reds because of the red flag flown by the russians anarchists
are people that reject all forms of government or any authority in the wake of world war one
there was a strong sense of patriotism within the united states and any threat to the american
way of life was seen as a serious concern and although this first red scare was at its height
to 1919 its influence on american culture continued through the 1920s much of the
controversy centered around labor unions and immigrants labor unions in america had existed
for many decades prior to the 1920s and had been organized to protect the rights of workers
but now labor unions began to be viewed through a communist lens by many americans they were seen as
agitators and as trying to encourage class division within america exactly what communism
advocated for so now when labor unions would go on strike to ask for better wages or improved working
conditions it was interpreted as a threat to the united states newspapers began to sensationalize
union activities and further more implicated immigrants to america in the scandal the u.s
government began to fight back against these perceived threats the u.s attorney general at
the time alexander mitchell palmer had vigorously fought against any communist or anarchist threats
in may of 1918 the sedition act was passed which made it illegal to make statements that were
abusive towards the united states government you could not make statements that were
negative towards the flag u.s constitution or the military and if you were found to be
spreading any of these ideas you could face a ten thousand dollar fine and twenty years in prison
one example of the act being enforced was in 1918 labor leader eugene debs made a speech speaking
out against u.s involvement in world war one deb was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison
the sedition act was repealed or cancelled in 1921 as it was a clear violation of first amendment
rights of freedom of speech but the message it sent was clear america would not tolerate
any communist or anarchist threats throughout 1918 and 1919 labor unions began to go on strike in
september of 1919 over 300 000 steel workers went on strike asking for better wages and an eight
hour work day their efforts were portrayed to be fueled by communist ideas and the strike lost a
lot of support and fed paranoia in america coupled with this during the spring and summer of 1919
over 40 booby-trap male bombs were mailed to prominent politicians and business leaders
such as john d rockefeller and attorney general palmer himself americans saw the bombs and labor
strikes as confirmation of a conspiracy to topple the u.s government by communist name anarchist
attorney general palmer sprung into action along with up-and-coming fbi agent j edgar hoover they
began to conduct what became known as palmer raids in november of 1919 they raided the union of
russian workers and arrested over 200 individuals during the summer of 1920 called the red summer
dozens of more raids were conducted and it is estimated that over 3 000 people were arrested
and over 500 were deported or expelled from the united states the raids targeted primarily
european immigrants which were believed to have ties to leftist political organizations one event
that came to symbolize the red scare was the trial of nicola sacco and bartolomeo vancetti they were
both accused of killing two men in massachusetts during a robbery and both of them were italian
immigrants both also had ties to radical anarchist groups they were found guilty and sentenced to
death many protested the verdict arguing that they had been found guilty for their political beliefs
and not for the crime itself both men maintained their innocence but nonetheless
they were executed in august of 1927. the fear of communists and anarchists in america slowly calmed
as the 1930s approached but red scares again would rise after world war ii in the late 1940s
and early 1950s so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching